Severus Snape, the Babysitter
by AdminEmmaWeasley
Summary: A cute story of how Severus Snape ends up babysitting four young babies on the same night - Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy! Inspired by fan art which is NOT mine


**Disclaimer: I own nothing recognisable (including the picture)**

Severus sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Why he had agreed to be a baby sitter at all, he had no idea.

Saying yes to Lucius was perfectly understandable – after all, he was a fellow Death Eater, and had many responsibilities to the Dark Lord. He and his wife, Narcissa, had both been assigned to an important task tonight, so Severus had agreed to babysit their son, Draco, forgetting that he had already promised Lily he would babysit her son, Harry, that same night.

Of course, saying yes to Lily was an inevitable fact. He was so grateful to have been forgiven that he would do anything for her. Not that he wouldn't have done anything and everything for her, anyway.

Little Hermione's Muggle parents had just been told that one of their relatives was extremely ill and probably would not make it through the night. Severus had made friends with them a year or so ago, in a bid to show Lily that he hadn't meant that horrid word he spat back in fifth year, and they had asked him to look after her. How could he say no?

But how he had ended up with young Ron Weasley, poor Severus would never know. Why Arthur and Molly entrusted their son to him, Merlin knows. But there was the little redhead, tucked up in one of the four conjured-up cots, fast asleep just like the other three.

Merlin.

It had been a large and undesirable task to get them all to sleep. Indeed, Severus didn't know how his house was still intact (well, relatively intact) after the onslaught of four young babies. He didn't know how _he_ was still intact.

Hermione had been the first little one to arrive. What a pleasant, well-behaved girl. She sat on the carpet, chewing on her chewy toy, which her parents had bought for her before she had even begun to teethe. Severus chuckled at this – he supposed that's what happened when dentists had children. Every now and then, Hermione would look at Severus, but she never made any noise. She seemed perfectly content.

That's when Draco showed up. As soon as his parents left, he was off. Severus took his eyes off the little boy for only a few seconds, and he was gone. After a frantic search, he found him in the kitchen, happily pulling everything out of every cupboard he could reach.

"Why you..." Severus swooped up the giggling blonde and brought him back into the living room, where Hermione gave her fellow baby a reproachful look over her chewy toy. Draco babbled gleefully and swiped the chewy toy from Hermione's mouth. Severus braced himself, expecting her to cry, but instead she simply frowned and grabbed at it with both hands.

As the two played tug-of-war, Ron arrived. After assuring Molly that Ron would be quite alright, Severus took him into the living room to find Draco frowning at Hermione, who was chewing on her toy once more. Severus chuckled and told Hermione what a clever girl she was. Her eyes sparkled at him and he could have sworn that she bounced with excitement.

Draco garbled crossly at Hermione, and baby Ron shouted incoherently at Draco. Draco stared at him for a few seconds before shouting incoherently back. Severus tried to quiet them, but they were both quite insistent.

The doorbell rang once again. Severus sighed and decided to take Ron with him to answer it, to try and break up the argument.

"Hi, Sev," Lily said, smiling as baby Harry tugged lightly at her necklace. "Thanks so much for this," she said, staring at the agitated redhead in Severus' arms. "Is that one of the Weasley boys?"

"Yes," he replied. "Their youngest, Ron. He's just had an argument with the Malfoy boy."

Lily's face darkened at the mention of the Malfoys before breaking into a smirk. "Three babies tonight then, huh?"

"Four, actually," he said while trying to stop Ron from wriggling out of his arms. "I have Hermione, too. Such a good little girl," he added with a smile.

Lily smiled and said, "Well, you seems to have your hands full, so I'll bring Harry in."

"Thanks, Lils."

Her smile widened. "I've missed you calling me that."

Severus grinned. "I missed it, too."

Lily settled Harry on the couch, kissed him goodbye and left Severus alone with the four babies. Hermione had apparently grown bored of her chewy toy and was crawling around the room, exploring everything carefully. Draco had picked up her toy and was gnawing at it greedily. Ron began shouting at him as soon as he saw him, but Draco ignored him. Soon enough, Ron gave up and turned his attention to Harry, who seemed content to sit on the couch and watch.

Ron babbled to Harry, who stared at Ron for a few seconds before breaking out into a toothy grin and babbling back. Severus smiled and settled Ron onto the couch beside Harry. As they garbled, Severus sat down with a sigh and watched as Draco's eyes followed Hermione around the room.

A few times, the little girl would look back at Severus, as if she was making sure that what she was doing was alright. He simply smiled at her, and she said, "Ah!" before continuing her escapades.

Suddenly, Severus felt a pressure on his thigh. He looked down to see Harry climbing onto his lap. He clumsily tried to turn himself around and sit down, and Severus chuckled before helping him. He sat on Severus' lap and eyed Draco suspiciously before watching Hermione. Ron put a hand on Severus' thigh, too, so Severus moved Harry to one leg and lifted Ron onto the other.

The two boys made soft, seemingly pleasant conversation as they looked around the room and at the other two babies.

Draco, obviously becoming bored with Hermione's chewy toy, hurled it across the room before looking around. He glared at Harry and Ron, who both fell silent as they glared back.

Severus braced himself for a three-way argument, but it didn't come. Draco had disappeared again. "How...?" Severus groaned and lifted Harry and Ron off his lap before searching the place for the troublesome blonde.

"Ah-ga!" A voice announced gleefully.

"Oh, no you don't!" Severus growled, storming into his bedroom and swooping up the clapping Draco. "Not in my room!" he told the boy.

Draco pouted as Severus carried him back to the living room.

"Time for bed!" Severus announced ten minutes later, after chasing Draco around the kitchen and into the bathroom only to return to the living room again to find that Harry and Ron had obviously become very bored. Hermione seemed to be scolding them, which Severus would have found very amusing if he hadn't been so exasperated at the mess.

Deciding that Hermione would be the easiest to get to sleep and the easiest to keep an eye on, Severus conjured four cots and wrestled the boys into one each.

Draco was the first to start. He grabbed Severus' hair and Severus hissed in pain.

Harry climbed into Severus' arms and, because Severus was distracted by Draco, was able to proceed to his head.

Ron banged on the side of his cot, obviously wanting to join the fun, and Hermione was again scolding the boys. Severus picked Ron and Hermione up and tried to get the boys to let go.

That was when he realised that Harry had snatched his wand. He was now waving it around and gurgling gleefully from his perch on Severus' head.

Severus sighed, put Ron and Hermione into their separate cots and managed to get Harry and Draco to detach themselves from him.

"Go to sleep," he said calmly. With his wand (which he had to pry from Harry's stubborn hand) he rocked all four of the cots gently and put on some soothing music. Hermione went straight to sleep, and Ron soon followed. Harry and Draco hissed at each other from inside the cots, but after five or ten minutes, they went to sleep as well.

Severus checked the all of them were asleep before fading the music away and slowly stopping the cots from rocking. Then he collapsed onto the couch with a heavy sigh and murmured to himself, "Well, thank Merlin."


End file.
